Research shows that providing a stimulating environment for children ages zero to three can lead to multiple benefits later in life. What early childhood experts have to say about this “first-three-years” theory, plus strategies for helping your little ones reach their full potential.
Open any parenting magazine and you’ll likely find an article extolling the vital developmental importance of the first three years of a child’s life. Current opinions in child psychology claim that these early years are essential not only for physical and emotional growth but also for cognitive spiritual moral and intellectual development.
Are the experiences of the first three years really so crucial to a child’s future behavior intelligence and emotional health? According to Rabbi Shmuel Meyberg Ashdod-based educational psychologist the theory is spot-on. “It’s 100 percent true — this period is absolutely vital. Most studies show that if a child doesn’t get the right stimulation in the early years they will have problems later.”
Psychologist Ilana Trachtman who is on the staff of B’Derech HaMelech (an organization that provides information and guidance to parents) agrees. “From zero to five are the formative years — that’s classic child psychology. Psychological emotional and thinking patterns are all formed at this age.”
So important is this stage that a child’s IQ can be raised a full 20 points by giving him the right emotional and intellectual stimulation adds Rabbi Meyberg who evaluates and treats children of all ages and also teaches developmental psychology in Bais Yaakov teachers’ seminaries.
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